Chapter 96: The Aquila Nebula

Words : 1316 Updated : Sep 17th, 2025

After transporting Xiao Yu to this unknown star region, the Specter Race, formed from human souls, vanished without a trace. Xiao Yu sighed deeply, beginning to plan for his future. The first step was to determine his current location—whether it was still within the Milky Way—and to assess how much time had passed in the outside world during the one-day journey. He found himself in a vast nebula, tens of light-years across, classified as an emission nebula. Nebulae fall into three categories: emission nebulae, reflection nebulae, and dark nebulae. Emission nebulae, as their name suggests, emit visible light. Reflection nebulae reflect the light of nearby stars, while dark nebulae lack nearby stars and do not emit or reflect light, making them invisible on the visible spectrum. They can, however, be identified as dark patches against bright backgrounds. The nebula Xiao Yu encountered before meeting the Moluton Civilization was a dark nebula. Now, he was within an emission nebula. This nebula served as a highly efficient and massive stellar nursery. Countless interstellar dust clouds had coalesced into stars. The ultraviolet radiation emitted by young stars caused ionization of the interstellar dust, giving the nebula its faint reddish hue in the visible spectrum. Thus, the sky here was not black but red. Bright, young stars were embedded in the faint red backdrop like brilliant gemstones—a breathtaking sight. However, beneath this beauty lay hidden dangers. Due to the concentration of young stars, radiation levels in this region were dozens of times higher than in other parts of the universe. Moreover, the larger the star, the shorter its lifespan; some massive stars lived for less than ten million years. When stars die, their fates depend on their mass. Stars similar to the Sun become white dwarfs. If the core left behind after a supernova explosion exceeds the Chandrasekhar Limit (~1.44 solar masses), it forms a neutron star. If the core mass exceeds the Tolman-Oppenheimer-Volkoff Limit (~3.22 solar masses), it collapses into a black hole. It was certain that behind this stunning red backdrop, there were neutron stars, white dwarfs, and even the universe’s most dangerous objects—black holes. For Xiao Yu, such objects were currently fatal threats. He resolved to proceed with the utmost caution. “This place is beautiful... but where am I?” Xiao Yu mused. The dense dust clouds seemed to obscure all the stars recorded in the Chronicles of Heroes Across the Cosmos. To find his original coordinates, he would have to search beyond the nebula. Looking beyond the nebula, Xiao Yu saw faint, nearly imperceptible stars. Using various observation techniques—visible light, X-rays, infrared, and ultraviolet—he began his search. “This is a dying red giant, too small to even undergo a supernova. Distance... approximately 3,000 light-years. Not listed in the Chronicles,” Xiao Yu noted, recording it before moving on. “This is a red dwarf, with a mass only 93 times that of Jupiter. Too small to be significant as a star. Also not listed in the Chronicles,” Xiao Yu muttered, recording it and discarding it as a target. “Hmm? This is a... pulsar? Its rotation speed, pulse strength, and the surrounding nebula... why do they feel so familiar?” Pulsars are a type of neutron star that emit periodic radio pulses. After examining 35 celestial objects, Xiao Yu found a familiar pulsar. He immediately searched the Chronicles of Heroes Across the Cosmos, and within a tenth of a second, identified a match. Xiao Yu’s spirits lifted, and he conducted a more detailed investigation. Over the next five hours, Xiao Yu gathered extensive data across the entire electromagnetic spectrum, from radio waves to gamma rays. Ultimately, he confirmed that this pulsar was indeed the one listed in his records. “This is... the pulsar from the Crab Nebula,” Xiao Yu concluded. This discovery brought Xiao Yu a sense of relief, as it confirmed that he was still within the Milky Way and hadn’t been lost in the vastness of the universe. The pulsar was approximately 1,200 light-years away from him, while the Crab Nebula itself was about 6,500 light-years from the Sun. Having identified the Crab Nebula, Xiao Yu began searching for the Sun’s position. However, the Sun, being an ordinary yellow dwarf, was difficult to locate in a region obscured by dense nebulae. The search proved painstaking. Fortunately, Xiao Yu’s technological advancements over the years, particularly in astronomical observation, allowed him to apply cutting-edge methods. Using a supermassive radio telescope, he eventually detected the Sun in the infrared spectrum after half a month of effort. Once the Sun was located, Xiao Yu extended his observations outward, identifying familiar celestial bodies one by one. Ultimately, he confirmed his position. “So... this is the Aquila Nebula. The Aquila Nebula lies about 6,000 light-years from the Sun and the Tianyuan IV star system. In just one day, I’ve traversed over 6,000 light-years, traveling from Tianyuan IV to here...” Xiao Yu felt an indescribable mixture of emotions. Moreover, during the process of pinpointing his location, Xiao Yu measured the relative motion of the Sun, the Crab Nebula, and other celestial bodies against certain neutron star benchmarks. He deduced how much time had passed during his journey. The conclusion was that while Xiao Yu experienced just a single day, over 6,100 years had elapsed in the outside world. The time dilation ratio was a staggering 1:2.2 million. From this, Xiao Yu calculated that his average speed during the journey was approximately 99.9999% of the speed of light. “Well then, since my kin brought me here, I’ll focus on developing in this region,” Xiao Yu said, reassuring himself. Having determined his location and the time elapsed, Xiao Yu began organizing his resources. The Specter Race had transported the remnants of the Luka fleet to this region along with Xiao Yu. The fleet included roughly 20,000 Luka ships, among them eight City-Class ships. While the Energy Shield Engines had been destroyed due to overload from the Specter Race’s attacks, the ships were otherwise intact. Recalling the advanced weaponry the Luka fleet carried, Xiao Yu grew excited. Among these was the Gravitational Bomb, a Level 4 civilization weapon capable of annihilating everything within hundreds of kilometers. Though the Luka fleet had brought thousands of these bombs, fewer than a thousand had detonated during the battle. This meant that the remaining undetonated bombs were now Xiao Yu’s to claim. This tremendous gain thrilled Xiao Yu. Additionally, the intact Luka ships contained invaluable technologies that could further enhance his capabilities. Xiao Yu deployed an army of robots to board and salvage the Luka ships. Familiar with the Luka ships’ structure from prior encounters, Xiao Yu’s robots easily located the power and control systems. Inside the ships, Xiao Yu found countless dead Luka crew members. He didn’t dwell on them, instead gathering the bodies and cremating them swiftly. The ships’ fuel reserves were largely intact, sparing Xiao Yu from needing to divert fuel from his own fleet. His robots modified the Luka ships’ operating systems and installed superluminal communication devices, officially integrating them into his fleet. The number of ships in Xiao Yu’s fleet surged to 130,000. This included 16 City-Class ships and 3,000 County-Class ships. The Luka ships required only repairs to their Energy Shield Engines to restore their shields. Once functional, these ships would outperform Xiao Yu’s original fleet. After modifying the control and propulsion systems and making initial repairs to enable basic protection against meteoroid impacts, Xiao Yu set out with his expanded fleet toward his next destination. The target was the nearest star, located just 0.3 light-years away. At Xiao Yu’s current speed, the journey would take approximately 30 years. For Xiao Yu, 30 years wasn’t a particularly long time. Within the faint red expanse of the Aquila Nebula, Xiao Yu’s fleet sped forward.

Chapter 96: The Aquila Nebula

Comments (0)